Young people at the heart of International Youth Day
As International Youth day approaches, Warwickshire’s Youth Justice Service is taking the opportunity to celebrate the success of its inter-generational projects that help young people make up for crimes they have committed.
On 12 August 2010, attention turns to the opportunities and challenges for 15 to 24-year-olds across the world as part of the annual celebration organised by the United Nations.
This year’s theme is ‘Dialogue and Mutual Understanding’, reflecting the General Assembly’s appreciation of dialogue among young people from different cultures as well as among different generations.
So with this in mind, Warwickshire’s Youth Justice Service is highlighting just one of the restorative justice programmes in its reparation directory that does just that.
Young people involved with the Youth Justice Service have been working with older members of Rugby’s West Indian Association to help improve relationships between different generations while doing something positive for the community.
Recently the groups have been involved with developing a mural highlighting the town’s cultural heritage, which is now displayed at the centre on St Peter’s Road, and worked together to create bird boxes for the centre’s garden.
Yvonne Frater from the West Indian Centre said: “We’ve always had a very good experience working with the young people from the Youth Justice Service and believe this type of project is imperative to bridge the gap that often exists between young and older people.
“It provides an opportunity for each group to get to know each other and dispel the misunderstandings about each other while doing something that benefits the whole community.
“The project has been very worthwhile for us, and we hope we can continue to build a good working relationship with the young people, Youth Justice Service and partners involved for years to come.”
Heather Shilling, Operations Manager for Warwickshire’s Youth Justice Service, said: “We have been building up the partnership with the West Indian Centre for some time now. It is exciting and rewarding to work in an intercultural, inter-generational way using arts and crafts, and music, as the vehicle for everyone to work side by side.
“It is the conversations that take place that really help the young people understand things from a different perspective. The older people are keen to share their craft skills and their memories, and the young people enjoy this.
“The reparation programme, as a whole, helps young people understand the reasons behind their offending while giving them the opportunity to right their wrong to the benefit of everyone.”
Cllr Heather Timms, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Families, said: “This is a tremendous example of how young and older people can work together on projects that benefit the whole community.
“International Youth Day is the perfect opportunity to raise awareness of projects like this, when young people are at the centre of the world’s attention.”
For more information regarding Warwickshire’s Youth Justice Service or for details of other projects in the Reparation Directory, visit http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/yjs.